Islam and Law in Lebanon

Rezensionen / Stimmen

'Morgan Clarke's Islam and Law in Lebanon is a superb study of the multiple registers of Islamic law both within and beyond the purview of the Lebanese state and its legal system. Through a close and incisive examination of discourses, individuals and institutions which participate in the discussion about the nature of Islamic law in contemporary Lebanon, Clarke draws attention to important, often overlooked dimensions of the dynamics between states, their laws and Sharia.' Guy Burak, New York University 'The anthropology of Islamic ethics and of Islamic law are today both recognised as important subfields in anthropology, but both have developed in only intermittent dialogue with each other. Morgan Clarke's richly researched and elegantly written book brings the two fields together masterfully, while also exploring the no less important issue of the relationship between state and non-state understandings and practices of Islamic sharia. The result is an important work that should be read by all anthropologists of Islam, as well as the general reader interested in how Islamic law and ethics are made relevant and meaningful in modern social settings.' Robert W. Hefner, Boston University 'Morgan Clarke's ethnographically rich account of sharia 'within and outside' the state in Lebanon offers a crucial step forward in articulating current concerns with institutions, ethics, and practices, particularly in the post-Ottoman context, and does so in a particularly clear and generous fashion.' John R. Bowen, author of On British Islam and A New Anthropology of Islam